Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday with great relief to Senior Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI) leaders by stopping the disqualification procedure against opposition leader in the National Assembly Omar Ayub and opposition leader in Senate Shibli Faraz. PHC also awarded protective bail to Faraz and Zartaj Gul-both recently sentenced to 10 years in prison by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in connection with the 9th of May 2023 Riots cases. Advertising of his reserved judgment on a petition against disqualification of Faraz and Ayub at the Pakistan (ECP) Election Commission on Tuesday, PHC ECP’s disqualification message remained. The two-page written order stated that the ECP had failed to give the petries an opportunity to be heard before they disqualified them. The court ordered that no further actions were taken against Ayub and Faraz until the next hearing, which is scheduled for August 20. The order also noted that the petries had already handed over the relevant courts and obtained protective bail, claiming that their beliefs were not yet final. Messages were also issued to ECP and other relevant parties. In a parallel development, PHC gave protective bail to Faraz and Yellow until August 11, after their conviction from ATC in Faisalabad last week. The court ordered both leaders to approach the relevant High Court to submit appeals and prevented law enforcement from arresting them. The two leaders were among over 100 PTI figures sentenced to prison of their alleged involvement in the riots on May 9, who broke out after the arrest of the party’s founder and former Prime Minister Imran Khan in 2023. To these beliefs issued the ECP on August 5, who were disqualified against nine PTI legislators who declared a minor, Strubized seats. These disqualified included Omar Ayub, Shibli Faraz, Zartaj Yellow, SaHibzada Hamid Raza, Junaid Afzal Sahi, Rai Hassan Nawaz, Rai Murtaza Iqbal, Rai Haider Ali and Ansar Iqbal. However, PHC has now set a temporary stop to this process of disability in response to petitions filed by the affected lawmakers.
PHC remains De-Layer of PTI-Stalwarts
